PSS’ in-person classes on Nov. 29

From left with webcams on, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther L. Muña with Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force chair Warren Villagomez; regional epidemiologist Stephanie Kern-Allely; CNMI Board of Education chairman Andrew L. Orsini; and non-voting BOE member Phyllis M. Ain, J.D. take part in virtual BOE meeting last Friday. (JOSHUA SANTOS)

After almost four hours of discussion, questions, and public comments, the CNMI Board of Education voted unanimously Friday to move the resumption of in-person classes at the Public School System to Nov. 29, instead of today.

During a virtual board meeting, the PSS board came to its decision after a presentation by regional epidemiologist Stephanie Kern-Allely, who outlined the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.’s recommendations that safely returning to in-person instruction is a priority.

Acting Education commissioner Eric Magofna also spoke of the impacts school closures have had on the PSS community, particularly on learning loss, student nutrition, and student mental health.

The virtual meeting was also attended by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther L. Muña, and Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force chair Warren Villagomez. The three gave remarks and briefly answered questions and concerns meeting attendees had.

The virtual meeting was held using Google’s teleconference platform Google Meet, which has a maximum participant count of 250. After this cap was hit, the BOE decided to stream the board meeting on CNMI PSS’ Facebook page. On Facebook, the board meeting garnered almost 10,000 views and more than 600 comments.

What was originally on the agenda for last Friday’s meeting was for the BOE to vote on the resumption of in-person classes to begin today, Nov. 15. BOE member Antonio Borja made the motion to move the resumption date to Nov. 29. BOE vice chair Herman Atalig seconded the motion.

In her presentation, Kern-Allely highlighted various data on the CNMI’s vaccination numbers and the current level of community transmission of COVID-19 in the CNMI since Oct. 28, and other related research that would back her and CHCC’s support of resuming in-person classes.

Most notably, Kern-Allely presented research that indicated that there have been no detected outbreaks of COVID-19 in a school under the CNMI Public School System.

So far, through case investigation and contact tracing of people with COVID-19 who are PSS students, staff, or teachers, what has been found so far is evidence that would indicate that COVID-19 transmission happened in households rather than in schools themselves, she said.

Kern-Allely also presented a graphic depicting what’s called the “Swiss Cheese Respiratory Virus Pandemic Defence,” which has been widely used as an accessible metaphor for the layers of preventative measures that need to be in place to prevent the spread of a virus.

Primarily, the “Swiss Cheese” model illustrates that a probability of spread will always exist, but multiple layers of protection working in tandem will significantly reduce the likelihood of spread as a virus passes through each layer.

In summary, Kern-Allely and CHCC said that, for the overall wellbeing of students, safely returning to in-person instruction is a priority, and that reopening schools is critical to students’ education and their physical and mental health. Kern-Allely added that being vaccinated remains the best preventative measure against COVID-19 and that the chance of COVID-19 transmission is low with layered prevention strategies in place.

Muña also shared what were known PSS-related COVID-19 numbers so far, that the following were those identified as positive for COVID-19: one staff member from Chacha Oceanview Middle School; two students from Kagman Elementary school; three students from San Vicente Elementary School; one student from Hopwood Middle School; five students from Marianas High School; and one student from Francisco M. Sablan Middle School.

Muña added that 10 teachers and staff were quarantined and deemed as “persons under investigation.” The 10 would be tested five days after exposure and released if they present negative test results.

Some parents expressed their concerns during the public comments section of the board meeting, with many more expressing their concerns in the chatbox of the Google Meet and the comments section of the Facebook livestream of the virtual board meeting.

Two such individuals who expressed their concerns were Tina Goodwin, who is president of the MHS Parent Teacher Student Association, and Rep. Leila Staffler (D-Saipan), who spoke not as a lawmaker but as a concerned parent herself.

“We really want the board to take into account that, speaking as parents, this closing again has been so hard on the kids here at home. They’re just not learning and I think because MHS has gone back to [in-person classes], we can just see the difference,” said Goodwin.

“…Access to education is paramount for our kids…and particularly our kids with special needs really need to have that face-to-face. Right now they are being limited. …I think it would be very important that we consider equity for all students,” said Staffler.

Results of a parent survey that PSS conducted earlier were displayed during the meeting. One survey item showed that, of almost 4,000 respondents, when asked what they would do if PSS leaders went through with reopening of in-person learning on the tentative target date of Nov. 15, 57% said they would keep their students at home while around 43% said they would send their children to school.

PSS first resumed in-person classes for select schools at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year on Aug. 18 after more than a year of online classes but was forced to go back to online learning last Nov. 1 after positive cases were discovered during routine COVID-19 testing in PSS schools.

To begin the new school year all PSS elementary schools and Tinian Jr./Sr. High School were allowed to open for face-to-face classes. The Tinian school was allowed to be open as it was one of the first secondary schools at the time to reach 80% of its eligible student population being fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Later into the school year, Dr. Rita H. Inos Jr./Sr. High School on Rota reached 80% vaccinated and Marianas High School reached 80% in October.